Contents

Summary

Episode summary

Plot

A father and daughter rollerblading in Central Park stumble across the body of a woman with several lacerations hidden in a bush. John Munch and Fin Tutuola learn Peter Harrison, who was performing community service for a prior crime against a woman, left work early with a cut thumb around the time of the murder. Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson question Harrison, who spouts wild conspiracy theories about the police. During an interrogation, Harrison suggests he killed the woman in Central Park because she was taking photos of him, before the questioning is stopped by his attorney, Julia Zimmer. Munch and Fin find a bloody knife during a search of Harrison's apartment and forensics technician Ryan O'Halloran finds the DNA matches the victim, resulting in an open-and-shut case against Harrison. However, Zimmer finds a technical error by forensics technician Dale Stuckey in the evidence paperwork. Stuckey insists he made no mistake, but Judge Elizabeth Donnelly is forced to set Harrison free, with a harsh rebuke against Stuckey.

Shortly afterward, another woman is found murdered at Coney Island in exactly the same way, and during the investigation Stuckey finds a soda can with Harrison's bloody thumbprint on it. The police learn Harrison told his hiding place to a friend on a conspiracy theorist website Harrison set a gas trap that nearly killed Detectives Stabler and Tutuola. Ryan O'Halloran told them they are lucky to be alive; Munch recognizes the friend as his ex-wife Gwen Munch, whom he convinces to reveal Harrison's location, but he eludes capture. Stabler and Benson ask for help from Zimmer, who said she has been taking care of Harrison since he lost his parents as a child. An unstable Harrison visits Zimmer, who calls Stabler and Benson to arrest him. As they are about to return to the precinct, Zimmer gets locked into her car and a poisonous gas is released into the air; Stabler breaks her car window but she has already been killed, presumably by Harrison.

Later, Judge Donnelly is nearly killed when she sits on a needle filled with potassium chloride at her home; she is saved when Stabler and Benson rush her to the hospital. O'Halloran tells Stabler and Benson that a mosquito sucked the blood from the killer as he or she was rigging Zimmer's car, and that the DNA from the blood will likely implicate Harrison. As the DNA is later being processed, however, O'Halloran is stabbed and killed by someone in the forensics lab. Stabler arrives and sees on the computer screen that the DNA matches Stuckey. He is knocked out from behind by Stuckey. Stabler's phone then rings with a call from Benson and Stuckey answers, saying Stabler went out for sushi and left his phone. He then ties Stabler to a chair and starts torturing him. Stuckey admits he killed the woman at Coney Island in order to frame Harrison, and that he attacked Zimmer and Donnelly for embarrassing him. Benson arrives and is held at gunpoint by Stuckey, but she convinces Stuckey that she too hates Stabler and is in love with him. While Benson kisses Stuckey to distract him, Stabler kicks him from behind, allowing Benson to knock Stuckey out and free Stabler. He asks Benson how she knew he was in trouble and Benson tells him that Stuckey told her he went out for sushi, something she knows he doesn't like since it has raw fish.

Background information and notes

This is the 10th season finale.

This marks the last time Forensics Technician Ryan O'Halloran, Defense Attorney Julia Zimmer, and Forensics Technician Dale Stuckey appear in any installments.

The fate of Judge Donnelly will not be known until next season, though after the detectives rush her to the hospital, the doctor tells Benson that she is going to be fine, and Donnelly is the trial judge in next season's "Confidential".